-The Indian Express When the RTI Act was enacted, it was never visualised that politicial parties would be brought within the ambit of the transparency law, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said in an affidavit in the apex court. The government has opposed in Supreme Court a plea to bring political parties under the ambit of RTI Act, saying this would adversely impact their internal working and political functioning. Submitting...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Militant guns routinely draw blood here. Ceasefires have been called and aborted. But the troubled Northeast is still the safest for two vulnerable sections - women and children. So says the National Crime Records Bureau in its report for the year 2014. Women, according to the report, are far more safe here than they are in, say, Bengal or Uttar Pradesh. Except Assam, which contributed to more than five per...

The Digital India Mission, launched by the NDA government, aims to connect 2.5 lakh village panchayats with high speed broadband internet by December, 2016 so that citizens can access online services. However, available facts reveal that this is a difficult task to be accomplished. In rural areas, among the youth aged 14-29 about 82 percent do not know how to operate a computer. In urban areas, nearly 51 percent of youth...

-The Indian Express A joint venture between the Railways and the Karnataka government, the original project involved construction of 329 bridges and 29 tunnels, and required felling of more than 2.5 lakh trees on 965 hectares of forest land.  The Rs 2,315-crore Hubli-Ankola railway line, cutting across the Western Ghats in Karnataka, has been shown the red signal by a Supreme Court panel on forest and wildlife, which said that the...

-Outlook The Centre has decided it would not reimburse the states for unsubsidised LPG cylinders used for Mid-Day Meal scheme and that the cooking gas would now be available only at market price, triggering protests and fears that it will "adversely" impact the flagship programme. Concerned over the additional financial burden the move would have on their coffers, some states are planning to send representation to the HRD Ministry. According to a recent...